


The Element of Surprise

by inkyandness



Category: Nomad of Nowhere (Web Series)
Genre: Casually Overthinking Everything, Dandy-Lions Mentioned, Don Paragon Mentioned, F/F, First Kiss, Less Useless Lesbians, Less Useless Sapphics, Nomad Mentioned, Sparring, they're pining but they don't entirely know it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 22:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14364738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkyandness/pseuds/inkyandness
Summary: Worried about Skout's safety when it comes to the fights they might get into when it comes to trying to capture the Nomad and potential other bounties, on an off-day, Toth decides to teach Skout how to fight.





	The Element of Surprise

Hunting the Nomad was no easy task. Sure, he was physically pretty weak and, from what Skout said, pretty nice-seeming, but he still was a slippery devil who always seemed to escape Toth’s grasp. Whether it was with his magic or simply how circumstances turned out, he always managed to get away. 

Sure, it wasn’t like she thought that catching the criminal who had evaded _her_ capture for months and effectively the _whole world’s_ capture for a century would be a cinch, but she did think that her tiny army would be more…Useful to her, but after months of discouragement, she had realized her men were running low on the will to do or care much about the Nomad, so a quick, fun day out might help them gain the motivation they need to work as the well-oiled machine they needed to be to catch the Nomad.

Helping the men to gain morale and strength would make them more effective as a unit, and give her a chance to strengthen another aspect of the Dandy Lions: Skout.

* * *

 

“Jethro? Null? Toth?” Toth heard Skout shouting in their campground, while Toth was sitting, sharpening her axe. Skout soon caught eye of her, and began running over to her, speaking a mile a minute. Like usual. “Toth! Hey Toth! Where is everybody? It’s almost noon and we haven’t even packed up the tents yet.”

“I gave them the day off in town. Their apathy towards our quest was weakening the group as a whole.” Toth stopped sharpening her axe for a minute to observe it…Yeah, that seemed pretty sharp. 

“Oh, well…Why didn’t ya’ tell me when they left? I could’ve stopped by a book shop! Ooh, or, or, I could’ve traded some stuff to get you some of those knives you liked!” Skout rambled. “Or maybe we could’ve gone and seen a show or-“

“Skout, you’re allowed to go as you please, and I’m sorry that I forgot to tell you, but I wanted to work with you on something today.” Toth said, her voice sounding strained. She didn’t forget to tell her; she just kind of didn’t. Skout was sending her a bit of an odd look, but it soon melted away, revealing one that was filled with curiosity and eagerness.

“Oh! Okay! What do you work on today?” Skout asked, her eyes shining up at Toth while she placed the recently sharpened axe in the bag of weapons it was usually kept.

“The Dandy Lions biggest weakness as a whole is their lack of care so they’re fixing that on their own. your biggest weakness is your inability to fight, and so my plan for the day was to fix that.”

Skout’s look of eagerness soon changed to a look of confusion. “W-What?”

“You’re smart and you’re strong, but it appears that your inability to fight could cause a number of problems in the future.” Toth said, but Skout still looked unsure, and a little afraid. Great, now Toth had to actually be honest here.

“I’d…I’d feel better if I didn’t have to worry about you getting hurt.” Toth sighed. Great…If Red Manuel or the Don heard about this level of weakness, they’d mock her for weeks, the Don might even remove her ranking, not needing such wishy-washy people in his army of bounty hunters. But, strangely enough, Skout didn’t look like she was going to sneer at her for weakness, she looked…Endearing and endeared. Her eyes were sparkly and her cheeks were pink, hiding a layer of freckles that’d normally be able to be seen in plain sight and her look of excitement and wonder directed at Toth made her stomach feel kind of weird.

“Alright, Toth. Let’s do it.” Skout said, determined. There was a glint in her eyes and the way she clenched her fist when she said that almost made Toth laugh; she looked like a silly child, but Toth knew that underneath that occasional clumsiness and love of books was the spirit of a true fighter. Toth just had to find it.

* * *

 

“There’s a lot of ground we could cover here,” Toth said, walking in circles while Skout sat upon a nearby rock. Toth’s posture was crisp and clean and she walked like she was marching into battle rather than just pacing. “You barely know how to hold a knife, so that rules out swords and knives if we’re doing an abridged lesson on how to fight, my axes and hatchets are made specifically for me, so they’re too big and heavy for you to swing around practically and don’t take much technique as it is, and we have no guns…So, we’re going to take the next logical point of action.”

Skout waited for Toth to respond, when she didn’t, Skout interjected. “Which is?”

“We’re going to transform you into a weapon.” Toth said proudly. “Today, I’m going to teach you some basic hand-to-hand combat skills and escape tactics.”

“Transform me into a weapon?” Skout murmured to herself, looking at her gloved hands.

“Yes. Think of it like this. You are both the sword and the wielder, you can get yourself out of problems and out of danger without anybody’s help but your own, and if you can help yourself, that means you can help others. That is one of your goals, correct?”

“More than anything.” Skout said, once again filled with confidence.

* * *

 

Toth and Skout had spent the whole day working on Skout’s stances and technique and form. Skout was pleasantly surprised to find that Toth was actually a pretty good teacher, and Toth already knew that Skout was a fast learner.

Toth found that Skout had taken to hand-to-hand combat better than she had with any form of preliminary knife or sword-training. She was effortlessly block Toth’s pretend punches, escaping her grasps, and was handling herself well. She looked like she was at least having fun, or getting pretty confident, but there was one word in that aforementioned sentence that worried her the most.

Pretend.

This was all pretend, Skout knew that she would never purposely try to hurt her, and although that was good to build up her self-esteem from where it normally was, she knew there would be no penalty if she was just a bit too slow once or tripped over her feet when she dodged. That was preparing her for failure, that was preparing herself for a future where they both make the same mistake; assuming that Skout’s capable of protecting herself. She wasn’t saying, or thinking, that Skout was going to be completely incapable, But this was practice, pretend. She was giving it her all, and it would be generous for Toth to say that she was trying at all.

“So!” Skout began suddenly, slightly startlingly Toth out of her thoughts. “How am I doing?”

“You seem to be doing well with the technique I’ve taught you so far, so I suppose the next logical step is to move into contact sparring.” Toth said.

“Contact sparring?” Are you sure?” Skout looked a bit squeamish about the idea, but Toth nodded.

“Skout, the Nomad or any future foe we may have to face is not going to go as easy on you as I am going right now.” Toth insisted. “Unless you want to wrap up for the day? The rest of the Dandy Lions should be turning up in an hour or two.” Skout shook her head rapidly.

“No! No! I can do this.” She said.

Toth looked at Skout, and turned to her bag of weapons for a moment. She walked over it, pulled out her axe, and drew a wide circle in the empty plain of sand and dirt around Skout. “We’ll compromise today. Okay? One round of contact sparring. We’ll stop when one of us loses, and one of us will lose when we’re pushed out of the ring. Are you ready?” Skout jumped into a defensive…ish, stance, and nodded once more, though she hardly looked ready or eager.

“You can tell me to stop at any time, I understand that it’s been an intense day, and that this a lot to learn. Now, remember! The element of surprise is always your friend. If you can throw me off-guard, you can throw the entire fight into your favor!” Toth advised, stepping into her own fighting stance. “Ready? 3, 2, 1, Go!”

* * *

Skout barely had realized what happened as she watched Toth run at her with a honed-in precision, and Skout had a strange moment where she didn’t think, she just reacted. Very poorly. She supposed it wasn’t terrible, given that she did dodge by ducking into a roll and scrambling to her feet afterwards, and both girls were very confused for a second, but nonetheless unwavering.

Toth ran at her, every other step a kick. Front kick, side kick, back kick, axe kick…one after another. All Skout could do was walk herself backwards and out of the ring, but it was pretty clear that Skout couldn’t allow that to happen, so she jumped out to the right when a kick could’ve come and knocked her in the head and out of the ring. Toth pulled a back-fist to her head, and although Skout blocked, it wasn’t with the usual precision she had.

Nothing seemed to deter Toth, Skout had realized immediately, but she was dying out here. Toth moved too fast and seemed to be walking her in circles around the ring, which did give her more opportunities to defend and attack, but attacking seemed to be pointless. A measly little kick from one of her legs to the stomach wasn’t going to get Toth to give her her space, it would be weird, and awkward, and weak to see her try…Plus she’d have to get close to her to do that, and Skout had decided that she was not in the mood to get kicked in the face today.

So here she was, bobbing and weaving and ducking and dodging and blocking-but not a single strike was thrown. Skout was less defenseless than she was before, but it wasn’t by much. 

Maybe she was just meant to cower behind Toth forever. It’s not like she seemed to mind…

…Or maybe she did, maybe this whole thing about being worried about her, and her being able to protect herself was just Toth’s way of getting Skout out of her hair so she wouldn’t have to worry about her. So Skout would be able to take care of herself, and not bother her anymore…

…She wasn’t a bother to Toth, was she? She sincerely hoped not. She really, really, hoped not. Toth was tall and beautiful and strong and amazing and tough and in many ways, Skout wanted to be just like her, but…

…If Toth even did think those things about her, but right now she needed to stop being such a dunderhead and just accomplish this simple task! She had found that over time Toth had slowed down quite a bit when she realized Skout’s focus had shifted and wasn’t all the way there, but Skout _was_ there, she just needed a stupid plan! She wasn’t going to give up, because Toth never gave up on her, so she has to show her that she learned _something._

But it seems her time has run out, as she stands with the edge of her heels where the circle has been drawn. A light breeze probably could’ve knocked her over, Toth loomed over her with a quizzical expression, like she wasn’t sure if Skout had just kind of astrally projected out of her body the minute the fight started or if she had an aneurysm or what. It was very odd to see Skout do something so quietly and so…Gracefully, she supposed. Watching her dodge and weave and duck was like watching a strange dancer, but with her distant eyes, it made Toth…Nervous? Intrigued? Worried specifically for her personal safety? Toth couldn’t be sure.

But, what could Skout do now? Toth was a bit confused, but it would only take a few more seconds before she’d just casually push her out of the ring, call it a night, and pretend their day together never happened. Not only that, but if Toth _was_ telling the truth, then that means she could inconvenience her in battle, and she just couldn’t hold her dear captain back like that!

What to do, what to do…

Then, in a second, she had an idea. She remembered. She _knew._

_The element of surprise._

The perfect weapon in a time like this, especially since Toth was no longer just standing there, and was moments away from placing her scarred and calloused hands onto Skout’s shoulders, for the sake of gently pushing her tiny frame out of the ring.

She knew what she had to do.

In a flash, she stood up on her tiptoes, grabbed Toth’s hands with her own, and pulled down on them. Hard.

Toth’s surprise at the action was probably what made her so complacent in being yanked down a few inches, and it was probably out of sheer luck that it allowed for Skout’s plan to work.

What was Skout’s plan? 

Kissing Toth, of course.

Obviously, it wasn’t a well-thought out plan, given that she had to knock the two of their heads together, but after the initial pain of the hit to the head fading, the kiss was rather pleasant. A small peck, if anything, but a warmth still filled Skout’s stomach and her head and her heart, like a soft campfire had been lit up in her stomach. She felt grounded and spacey at the same time and it was marvelous. Toth’s lips were chapped, sure, but Skout didn’t mind, hers probably were too. 

But, it’s not like it mattered, right? Because after a few seconds of kissing, Skout separated and used one of the arms that she was holding onto to hold it behind her back and give a hard shove and knock Toth out of the ring. 

Well, it was less of a “knock” and more of a “Toth got awkwardly shuffled out of the ring,” but the sentiment remained the same. 

Skout panted a bit. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the kiss, that made her heart clench when she thought about it, or because of the long day of fighting and training and practice.

Toth stood stock-still. 

Neither of them have spoken.

So, naturally, Skout takes it upon herself to break the silence.

“Um, I’m sorry! I didn’t, well, I mean, I kind of did, but I mean-“ Skout began, inflicting crisis upon crisis on herself. She could feel her face begin to blush and flush. Toth held up a hand to stop her from talking. 

She turned around. “Excellent work today, Skout. Your blocks are excellent and you seem to be very in control of your space and where you belong in it, not allowing me to get too close at all times. Not to mention that you were able to take me by surprise and out of the ring, which is…Good.” Skout listened intently, but she couldn’t help but notice that one of Toth’s hands was fidgeting around her lips, and she seemed to be refusing any form of eye contact with her whatsoever. 

 _Oh golly, she really messed this up, didn’t she?_ She realized in horror. She made Toth uncomfortable, she didn’t even know that was possible! Well, she knew that Toth had her limits, like most people would, but it’s not like she ever wanted to know what those limits were! She never should’ve acted out like that, used such an act of affection as a way to gain the upper-hand. She didn’t know if Toth liked her that way, heck, she wasn’t entirely certain if _she_ liked her that way, though she did find herself thinking about how cool or powerful or beautiful she was a lot…

…Oh, who was she trying to kid anymore.

“Although….” Toth began, and Skout snapped to attention. Toth was making eye contact with her, and holding out her hand for Skout to place hers in. She did so, placing her tiny baby hand into Toth’s rougher ones, which grasped it gently. Toth leaned in quickly, as if she would lose the will to do it if she did it slow, or she figured Skout would’ve pulled away, and gently placed a kiss on the knuckles, which caused Skout to give a tiny gasp. “I would advise you to find a new distraction tactic.” She released her hand and instead gave her hair a ruffle. She soon began to stroll off, leaving Skout slightly stunned, running the pad of her thumb over the back of her hand.

“If the feeling’s mutual, I’d like that tactic to be used only in our matches.” She could practically hear the slight teasing in her voice.

“If the…If the feeling’s mutual?” Skout murmured, and then her face split into a grin as she ran after her. “Maybe, on our next date, we can go to a bookstore, or carnival, or something?”

Toth smiled. “I think I’d like that.” And in that moment, Toth felt truly proud.

She was proud because the day had gone so well. She was proud that Skout was such a good student. She was proud that she was such a good teacher.

And, when the Dandy Lions got back, she was proud enough of the both of them to hold her hand, right in front of their eyes.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wanted to try to apply the 9+ years of martial arts knowledge I have, but unfortunately, there really was no place in the story to do that, so, yeah.
> 
> Also, I apologize if Toth seems a bit OOC, I see her as a person who makes it her duty to uphold the law, no matter what that law may be, but she also holds a large amount of affection for Skout, be it platonic or romantic, and has been shown to just...Not get people, at all, which translates to her emotions often being portrayed as confused and complicated. She's an interesting and complex character, and although I understand that the Nomad and his past holds great appeal, as well as the fact I personally relate more with Skout, I find her an incredibly interesting character that I'd love to talk about 24/7.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry if this is bad! This was mostly written on a whim with a half-baked idea, and I can only hope it was at least a fun read.
> 
> Tumblr:  
> https://juliastartoons.tumblr.com


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